Page 124 of Bling

Chapter Twenty-Eight

It had been three days since he dropped Isabelle off at the hospital. His vast connections had helped him keep tabs on her sister’s condition, which remained stable but critical. Now he sat in his office with Jax and his attorney trying to figure out what the fuck had happened.

“I want to know why my name is being connected with Carmen’s release. I’m paying both of you a lot of God damn money and I seem to have zero answers to show for it.”

Both men remained calm under his tirade. They’d been listening to it for three days.

“Look, Garrett, I’m digging as fast as I can, but from what I can tell, the judge signed off on her release based on your recommendation and that judge's signature went to the governor who commuted her sentence.”

“Who was the judge?”

“Felix Jenson,” his attorney answered. “It seems your signature was on a letter sent along with the deal that was filed on her behalf with the state’s attorney.”

Garrett dragged a hand through his hair. It made sense that a judge would accept a signed and notarized letter of reference as part of his consideration for whether or not to accept a new deal. What didn’t make sense was why the deal was offered to begin with. His attorney intended to ask for a few months to be shaved off, not immediate release, and those few months were contingent on her calling them back with more detailed information. As of his last update, Carmen Alvarado was still mulling over their offer.

“Is the FBI investigating this? My signature was obviously forged,” Garrett said. “I want to talk to Judge Jenson on the phone.”

“I’ve got a call set up for this afternoon,” his attorney said.

“I’m looking to get my hands on prison visitor logs for Carmen,” Jax said as he scrolled through his phone. “Since we know she’s somehow connected to Darren, and Darren is likely connected to Maddox, I’m expecting an odd visitor or two on the books.”

“Speaking of Darren, is he still in jail or did he make bail?”

“Made bail a few days ago. Same day they released Carmen, in fact.”

“Now, isn’t that convenient? Dig into that. And somebody, please get me an update on Isabelle. She’s refusing my calls.”

Jax held up a hand. “That’s above my pay grade, my friend. Your security team is still watching her though.”

Garrett growled. “I want some fucking answers. Have you found Maddox yet?”

Jax shook his head again. “Sorry man. He seems to have vanished. Talk to me about your smuggling theory.”

Garrett scraped his fingers through his hair. “It was something Isabelle turned my attention to. You know from your research that my brother used to run stolen diamonds and was using our company to launder them. Susan Arno and Helen Peter’s were both facing charges related to smuggling. Susan went to prison, Helen died.” He stopped to make sure they were still following.

“We know all of that. But then one of my department heads told Isabelle that inventory had dropped while the number of trucks moving in and out of here hadn’t changed. It happened maybe a year and a half ago, not long after I bought the Colorado facility. It seemed familiar, and then I realized why. That’s fucking how Maddox got so many stolen diamonds in and out of our facilities in Philadelphia. He fudged inventory here and there so each category of inventory only dropped a negligible amount which could be accounted for by fluctuation in supply and demand. As a result, he had room to store and ship more stolen goods and was able to pocket more money.”

Jax and his attorney seemed to be contemplating his story and there was silence as they took it all in.

“So… you think Darren was doing the same thing here?”

Garrett picked up a pen and tossed it across his desk. “I think my brother has been doing it through Darren. I just have no fucking proof.”

“Why now?” Jax asked.

Garrett shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. I bought the Colorado facility when David bought the Solitaire property. Darren was already working for the company and I left most of the staff here in place. I only made a few minor changes to align the company with my personal philosophies.”

Jax pulled out a small notebook and began writing.

“What are you thinking?” Garrett asked, impatient with the process.

“I have a theory,” the cowboy said. “But I need to run something down first. I’ll fill you in if it pans out.”

Garrett stood and paced. “I’m going to tear this God damned place apart if we can’t figure out what’s going on. I flushed my brother out the last time by shutting down an entire arm of my company. I don’t want to have to do the same thing here.”

“Let’s start by finding Darren Gunn. It shouldn’t be hard since he’s out on bail and has had his assets frozen. We can approach him with a deal. Say we’ll ask the judge for leniency if he’ll just give us some information.”

Garrett stared at his attorney. “Are you serious right now George? I don’t want that bastard getting any kind of deal. I want him behind bars for good.”

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